Diamond Phase III: Open SAC meeting - 11 October 2011

The SAC met on 11 and 12 October and made recommendations to Diamond management on the two beamline proposals presented at the Open meeting. These recommendations are now being considered in collaboration with the Research Councils and will be presented to the Board of Directors at their next meeting in December. Updates will be posted on this web page to inform the user communities when decisions have been reached.

Diamond management would like to thank all the scientific communities for their continuous support and involvement during the whole of the Phase III selection process started last year and look forward to new and exciting science once the Phase III beamlines come into operations.

Trevor Rayment and Dave Stuart
Science Directors
Diamond Light Source

Beamlines still under consideration

Selection Process

	This call invited new ideas for beamlines and the option to resubmit proposals not shortlisted by the Science Advisory Committee (SAC) in October 2010.
	Deadline for ideas and outline proposals
	New ideas reviewed by Diamond management to identify any overlaps. Proposers may be asked to collaborate on consolidated ideas at this stage. Both new ideas and resubmitted proposals will then be made available on the Diamond website.
	Lead proposers asked to prepare outline proposals. Proposers are strongly encouraged to consult widely at this stage.
	Deadline for submission of outline proposals to Diamond
	Outline proposals made available on the Diamond website. Diamond will then invite formal Expressions of Interest in these proposals which will be used by the SAC as a measure of community support.
	Deadline for sending Expressions of Interest to Diamond.
	The SAC will review all proposals and shortlist a number to progress. Diamond will nominate a User Working Group to put together a full case for support for each shortlisted proposal.
	Diamond will issue a call for letters of support in the shortlisted proposals.
	Deadline for submitting letters of support to Diamond
	The User Working Groups will prepare full proposals. Proposals not recommended by SAC in March 2011 may be resubmitted at this stage.
	Deadline for full proposals to be sent to Diamond
	Full proposals are reviewed by international peer review panels who will assess the scientific potential of each proposed beamline and how well these fit with existing and planned beamlines.
	An open SAC meeting will be held where all proposals are considered. Subsequently the SAC will recommend 2-3 beamlines for construction based on number of beamlines remaining after the recommendations of the SAC in March 2011.
	The Board of Directors will approve construction of the final beamlines to complete Phase III.